I was all over it when BK Cookware approached me and asked me to test their Wokarang. That’s not something I usually do, testing products, so why did I agree this time?

I had to google the wok, hadn’t heard of it before, but got all excited when I saw it in action. Vegetables flying out of the wok all over the kitchen is something that happens to me all-the-time. The downside to stir-frying, I guess, but this pan is supposed to fix that. How can you not want to try that?

I love a good stir-fry. Loads of crunchy stir-fried vegetables on a bed of steamed rice or noodles is the best food, ever. Tasty, healthy, and really fast to put on the table for a working mom on a busy weekday. But I need a wok sauce to go with it, to make things more interesting to eat.

Commercial sauces always seem to taste a little off to me. Some kind of chemical aftertaste that I absolutely resent. So I created a special wok sauce recipe first. I started chopping and I gave that wokarang a workout.

(ps: there’s a special Twitter action at the end of the recipe for those of you in the Netherlands/Belgium)

Finely mince the chill pepper (use less if you’re not into spicy foods), bell pepper, onion and garlic. Heat 1 or 2 tsp oil and lightly sauté the vegetable mix until the onions turn translucent. Add the spices and cook them along to get the flavours going. our in the soy sauce, molasses, brown sugar, chill sauce, water and store well. Bring it to a boil and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Start with 1 tbsp cornstarch (whisked into a tbsp water) and stir it in. The sauce should get pretty thick, add 1/2 tbsp more cornstarch if you need it. Turn off the heat and stir in 2 (or 3) tbsp lemon juice to finish the sauce and let the sauce cool off.

Peel the carrot and thinly slice it. Trim the beans and wash them. Cut the peppers in strips and chop the spring onions. Cut the onion in wedges and peel the layers apart. Clean and slice the mushrooms and cut the chicken breast into thin strips and season them with salt. One of the key things to stir-frying is to let your pan get hot. And I mean HOT! Another is to use a decent high heat cooking oil., cool oil. Always keep that in mind. Heat the pan, add a tbsp or so oil, swirl oil and start stir-frying straight away.

Always start with the protein. First you stir-fry the chicken and keep it moving so it won’t burn. Transfer the chicken to a plate. The things that need the most cooking-time go first. I stir-fried the beans for about 3 to 4 minutes until they started to blister, then I added the carrots and gave it two more minutes. In with the bell peppers strips and stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Next up were the onions. Another 2 minutes. The mushrooms and spring onions. Stir-fry until the mushrooms soften up.

Add the chicken, give it a minute to warm up again before stirring in the bean sprouts. Add 1 or 2 tbsp sauce, stir it in and give everything 1 more minute. Serve over rice or noodles.